Bleeding Yankee Blue: THE YANKEES & WHO MAKES THE CUT

Thursday, March 23, 2017

THE YANKEES & WHO MAKES THE CUT

Photo: AP

It's less than two weeks until Opening Day! We're all excited and as we get closer to that day where the games count the roster is finally taking shape. Spring Training will be over soon, but there are still some decisions to be made. Some guys already know their roles....and others are still fighting for a job. The Yankees have some spring cleaning to do. So who stays and who gets tossed out?

SAFE!

Adam Warren: Not a surprise here....Brian Cashman has always said that Warren would have a role on this team but what that role will be is still unknown. The Yankees need to fill two of the five open rotation spots and both Cashman and Joe Girardi gave the same exact statement yesterday, read that HERE. The rotation battle is not going as predicted....so could Warren sneak in and steal a starting gig or does he stay in the bullpen? Maybe he does have more control over his destiny after all.

Greg Bird: If the Yankees had any doubt if Bird could be the new every day starter...he erased it. Before Wednesday's game Girardi officially named Bird the starting first baseman and then he celebrated his new role by hitting two home runs and driving in five runs. His .439 BA proves that he is physically an mentally ready for his new role. He has looked so good that he has even caught the attention of Mr. October himself Reggie Jackson who gave him high praise HERE.

OUT?:

Didi Gregorius and Rob Refsnyder: Didi is not out permanently but, he is out until May. Teams see the empty hole in the Yankees lineup and they have already made some trade proposals to the Yankees HERE but the Yankees aren't biting. Simply stated, Zack Cozart and Jose Iglesias are just too expensive and Cozart is a short term rental. If anything maybe the Yankees pursue cheaper option Nick Ahmed from the Arizona Diamondbacks but even that is unlikely considering all of the in house options they have.

Or, does this give Rob Refsnyder a temporary and small window of opportunity? It would require moving Starlin Castro back to shortstop and he has not been playing there recently. If the Yankees were to make room for Refsnyder would now be the time? The odds certainly don't look good.

Photo: NJ.com

Chris Carter: Bird is the word... and the starting first baseman. Now the ideal platoon idea that the Yankees first envisioned seems unlikely. It's hard to bench Bird with a .439 BA for Carter's .108 BA, one home run, three RBI's and 20 strikeouts. To say that Carter has struggled this spring would be an understatement, so how long do the Yankees find a way to pencil this guy into the lineup if his bt doesn't start to heat up? His 2016 season shows he is capable of more, but if he's not hitting do the Yankees try to dump him later for another piece? A serviceable arm maybe? We'll see what happens....but right now Girardi figures that Bird will get the majority of the at-bats for first base.

Luis Severino: So far 2017 looks just like last season. Severino has no fastball command and hitters like those balls high up in the zone. Severino knows this but still hasn't corrected it, read more HERE. The Yankees have never come out and said this, but with so many other unproven names fighting for a rotation spot this year this was basically his spot to lose.....and so far he is. So do the Yankees send him down to Triple-A to work on his mechanics again or do they just send him to the bullpen after having some success there last year? With quality starters getting harder and harder to find compared to those short inning relievers the Yankees look hesitant to give up on him but are they holding on to him for too long? Is it time to move on? With spring training coming to an end time is running out to convince the Yankees that he can be an effective start again.